Currently, the flight instruments in many aircraft are based on mechanical devices. In most aircraft, these mechanical devices include various types of instruments, including vacuum-driven instruments, pitot-static-driven instruments, and electrical-driven instruments. Although providing safety through redundancy, most of the primary flight instruments are based on vacuum-driven instruments and pitot-static-driven instruments, even though current electrical-driven instruments are more reliable.
The standard flight instruments include both primary flight instruments and secondary flight instruments. These flight instruments are located on an instrument panel in the aircraft. The primary flight instruments are generally located in a standard configuration, but the secondary flight instruments may be located in numerous positions on the instrument panel. Every aircraft may have a different instrument configuration. The lack of uniformity in the arrangement of these flight instruments can be confusing to a pilot, particularly if the pilot flies more than one type of aircraft.
The primary flight instruments in current aircraft are generally distributed among more than one visual representation. In most aircraft, especially general aviation aircraft, the primary flight instruments include six flight instruments: an attitude indicator (also know as an artificial horizon), a heading indicator (or a horizontal situation indicator), an altimeter, an airspeed indicator, a turn indicator (or a turn-and-slip indicator, if an inclinometer is included), and a vertical speed indicator. Thus, when a pilot is flying a complicated approach or procedure, the pilot must visually acquire information from at least these six instruments. Some current systems combine some of these instruments, but such systems have limited functionality, scope, and utility.
There is a need for apparatus and methods for providing flight instruments in an electronic format. There is also a need for apparatus and methods for providing flight instruments in a standard configuration, including both primary flight instruments and secondary flight instruments. There is still also a need for apparatus and methods for providing some or all of the primary flight instruments in one visual representation. There is further a need for apparatus and methods that combine providing flight instruments in a standard configuration with flight instruments in an electronic format with some or all of the primary flight instruments in one visual representation.
This invention addresses these needs in various embodiments of a flight display.